Break down unemployment benefits

Breaking down unemployment benefits

Usually, eligible unemployed workers only get up to 26 weeks of state-administered jobless benefits.

But during the recession, Congress allowed some to receive up to 73 additional weeks of payments.

The extended jobless aid, which was approved by Congress at various times in various increments, is divided into sections, or "tiers," that last several weeks or months. Once workers exhaust all of the benefits in one tier, they move on to the next one, depending how long they have worked. The maximum benefit can get is 99 weeks total.

For the three months that ended Sept. 30, here is how the benefits broke down in Arizona:

5,760 initial claims of unemployment in the three-month period.

73,019 people getting the first 26 weeks of regular unemployment insurance.